


Goldenrod Hills

by BiesFromWildland



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Finding Love, Moon Goddess - Freeform, Witchcraft, and being gay, gods and mortals, in a village in the hills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 07:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20689928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiesFromWildland/pseuds/BiesFromWildland
Summary: Every night Mary would sit down, surrounded by her sheep and start a small fire, to cook and to warm up. But after cooking but before going to sleep she would walk beyond the firelight, into the darkness, and stare into the night sky, at the moon, wishing so hard, she would see the beautiful star-eyed maiden, she once saw so long ago.





	Goldenrod Hills

Day after day and night after night Mary was guarding her sheep at the Goldenrod Hills. And every day was easy, just as easy as hard work can be. But every night, oh every night was exciting but so very difficult.

Every night she would sit down, surrounded by her sheep and start a small fire, to cook and to warm up. But after cooking but before going to sleep she would walk beyond the firelight, into the darkness, and stare into the night sky, at the moon, wishing so hard, she would see the beautiful star-eyed maiden, she once saw so long ago.

The woman Mary saw was bright and soft like moonlight, with round face and round body. Small and distant, so fragile looking next to big and strong Mary. But even thought it was cold winter night when Mary saw her, she was wearing only a light dress and wasn’t cold at all. At that moment Mary understood that she would never be as strong as this woman. All she could do was to get better, so if she ever met the star-eyed maiden again she could say “I did my best, for you”.

Mary did not really understand why she was staring at the moon while thinking about the star-eyed maiden. But the moon was a reminder and it was like a lure, just waiting there, just being there, just for Mary, just to look and adore and think and almost, but just almost, to pray.

Of course Mary would never pray to the moon. The moon was not a thing one would pray to. Her mother and father would be very angry if she tried to pray to anyone else than her namesake or…

“But your parents are not happy with you anyway, aren’t they?” suddenly a voice clear like silver bells said, near Mary’s ear.

Mary froze, tears gathering in her eyes. Slowly she turned around just to see this woman, standing near but far, glowing and smiling, waiting for answer.

“They’re… They’re not, m’lady” she answered, her voice quite as never. “They are loud and violent often. They are never happy with me, and with themselves, and I wish they would be happy with me at least once in their lives.”

“And your prayers?”

“My prayers? They’re lost between other voices in the church, always there but never heard. I wish I could pray not in the church but in the fields, but my mother says it’s a wrong thing to do.”

“Then pray. Pray in the fields, pray in the hills, pray to the nature, pray to the moon, pray to _me.” _

The star-eyed maiden disappeared, like she was never there. Mary would stay there until sunrise, speechless and enchanted, if not for the cold and the dogs barking at the place where the woman stood not a minute ago.

* * *

She told no one of the happening. Even if she wanted to, there wasn’t many people coming to the place she stayed with her sheep, and she was coming back home only on Sundays to attend the mass. So there was a lot of time for thinking and a lot of time for _praying._

At first, it was just a melody. Just a small song Mary used to sing while working. The words slowly turned into a hymn about the fields and the work, about the sky and the moon above, about love and longing. And then a new song happened. And one more. And another. Mary sung about her feelings, her love and loneliness, about how different she felt even thought she was seen as normal. She was just a girl. With girly problems. With girly life and girly needs.

But she was a girl that was bigger than many boys. She was a girl that never asked for boys attention. She was a girl that wanted to sing and dance with other girls! And when they were small other girls wanted to dance with her too, but now they are older, and they think about boys, and they think she also thinks about boys, but she just… Doesn’t.

She just sings and thinks about the star-eyed maiden.

* * *

The next time she goes to the church she feels her stomach turn the wrong way. She feels bad and twisted, like she doesn’t belong there. She could sing about _Łąki umajone, _and she could sing about Mary and all her children. She could even sing about Jesus! She could, but it just felt weird. Her voice might have been strong and loud when she was speaking, but it wasn’t a good singing voice and so it was getting lost in the choir. Just another one of the many, the same as anyone’s else. And it didn’t feel _right._

When the mass ended she was one of the firsts to exit the church. Her strong breathing and quick steps attracted attention of Aniela, the sweetest girl in the village, one who made Mary’s breath even harder.

“Are you all right?” she asked slowly, like she was scared of the answer.

“I just… Need a little bit of air. I’ve spent so much time in the hills I forgot how it’s like to be with so many people in a such small space” Mary answered and laughed a little.

Aniela at once became calmer and less uptight. “You know, I was a little worried you might be sick or even, you know” she looked around before whispering: “_possessed_.”

All blood went away from Mary’s face.

“Possessed?”

“You know, people talk. You don’t spend much time around here, you don’t talk to many people, no one ever heard you talking about a boy you liked and even your mother says you never expressed an interest in marrying anyone. So people, you know, _talk. _Even before the mass I heard comments about how pale you look after stepping into the church.”

“Possessed.”

“I didn’t want to make you sad, but that’s just what they’ve been saying.”

Mary thanked Aniela for her worries and reassured her that she feelt fine before quickly walking away. But she didn’t feel fine. She felt hot and cold at the same time because maybe, only maybe, she _could be _possessed. She _could_ have been praying to a devil disguising itself as a woman to appease Mary.

It didn’t feel like possession but it could be one, couldn’t it? Would she know if she was possessed?

But it didn’t feel like possession. It felt like being free for the first time in her life, and if that was devil’s work she was fine with it.

* * *

She didn’t spend much time with her family. Her parents were as always fighting, her younger siblings were loud and her older sibling were occupied with their own families or scolding her that she should finally find a husband and start a family of her own. She didn’t want to listen to any of them, not the fighting nor the scolding, not even the playfulness of jokes and songs that sounded nice only if sung by many voices.

Or so she was telling herself to feel a little bit less painfully alone while surrounded by people.

As soon as she could she went back into the hills, to her sheep and dogs, to the song of birds and wind. And she sang and she prayed, and she cried a little too.

“Oh, star-eyed maiden, what did you do to me?” she asked quietly, not expecting the answer. “You have bewitched me with your glow and smile, and words and asks of prayer. How am I now to live with my family and their expectations and wishes?”

For a long time the only answer she heard was the silence. Sad and broken she stared at the moon, wishing so hard that the maiden would appear again and embrace Mary. But something was telling her that it is not the way the star-eyed maiden worked. Mary remembered what the maiden said before and realized - she didn’t have to live with her family. More or less she was living without them for a really long time now. She knew how to take care of herself, she knew how to care for others too. She knew of a place, not so far, but a little bit hidden, where and old cottage stood, abandoned but if she worked on it a little bit…

She called for dogs and started moving the sheep. She had the whole summer to work on the cottage and there was no better moment to start than now.

* * *

People in the village talked about the witch returning to her old cottage. Some of them were saying that she was as old as always, some argued that she must have used her powers to be young again. But they still were expecting that the witch will have what they need if they pay her enough, so most of the time Mary didn’t have to worry about not having food or other needs.

She was in the middle of working in her small garden when she heard someone coming through the woods towards her. Quickly she threw an old fur over her head that she used to obscure her face and stood up.

Not a minute later in front of her cottage stood Aniela, all scratched and confused.

“Witch!” she called. “Oh witch, you _must _help me. I married not long ago and my husband is good and I like him but I don’t think I will ever love him. And after a sleepless night I saw a star-eyed maiden that told me you could help.”

It was a strange feeling, to hear not just anyone but _Aniela _talk about the maiden. But then again Mary remembered the times when they danced together as children, and while other girls slowly moved on to dancing with boys, Aniela was still dancing with Mary. For a long time Mary thought that Aniela was just being a nice person, after all she was the one who cared about everyone else’s feelings before her owns. But maybe Mary was wrong?

Slowly she stepped closer to Aniela and took her hand in hers.

“I can help you with scratches and bruises and show you a better way to the village than through the blackberrie brushes, but I can’t comand your heart to change where it belongs.”

There was a pause, where Aniela suddenly became calmer, like all her worries went away. “Mary? Is that you?”

Mary did not answer. Instead, she took Aniela’s hand closer to her face and let the fur slide off her head.

“I can’t command your heart and I can’t make you love your husband. But if you wish I can offer you a place in my cottage, there is enough place for two to stay.”

“Oh Mary…” Aniela whispered. “I would stay even if there was enough place only for one if you just asked.”

* * *

Under the full moon on the Goldenrod Hills there was singing. Two voices singing in unison about the hills and the woods, about the moon and the stars, about love and belonging. And before they realized there was a third voice, singing with them, adding pure joy to the melody.

“Star-eyed maiden!” Mary called when the song ended. “I don’t even know how to start…”

“You already started” said the maiden with a soft smile. “You pray and you talk to me, and you sing with joy and live with pride. You’re here with your wife to sing to the world about my work.”

“We are not wives” said Aniela quietly, blushing.

“Under my protection you are.”

And so, they were wives, for good and for bad, living in a small cottage hidden somewhere in the forest. And people talked about the two witches and how one was old and the other was young but never could decide which one was which. And the shepherds talked about finding fresh food left in the hills with round faces carved into pieces of wood. And sometimes a child would look at the witches or at the moon and realize that there is more strength within them than they realized.

**Author's Note:**

> I ramble about everthing and nothing [here](http://bies-from-wildland.tumblr.com/) on tumblr or [@WildBies](https://twitter.com/WildBies) on twitter. And for the next week/month/year I will be rambling about how proud I am of this work only because I haven't wrote anything original in ages. But also this might be my best work yet. I am proud ok? I am proud and happy! And this is great! Such a good feeling!


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